Headlines – Page 1476
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Let’s be practical
As a newly qualified lawyer, I note with interest that the Legal Services Policy Institute is proposing that the training contract be scrapped. Yes, it is difficult to get a training contract in the current climate and yes, it is even more difficult to secure employment after completion of training. ...
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Valuable training
I am disappointed to read of the Legal Services Policy Institute’s suggestion that training contracts be scrapped and that students qualify immediately upon completion of the LPC (see [2009] Gazette, 24 September, 1).
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Discouraging words
The headline ‘Firms "over the worst" of recession’ (see [2009] Gazette, 24 September, 1) may have been intended to be encouraging, but readers will have been struck by the extraordinary insensitivity of the wording of the report, which said that firms were ‘finally reaping the rewards of staff cuts’.
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Solution to the insurance crisis
As someone who practises in the field of property mortgage fraud claims, it gives me no comfort to say that I foresaw that PI premiums would escalate and – coupled with the drop in conveyancing caused by the recession – create the financial crisis for solicitors reported in your front-page ...
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LG Law and Practice diploma
Congratulations from the board to this year's successful candidates and prizewinners. The diploma celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2009, and several hundred solicitors have earned the highly respected "Dip. L.G." letters after their names over that time. The course lasts for nine months, counts for CPD ...
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Trumpeting legal aid
As Obiter reported back in July, musical lawyers Denis Cameron and Basil Preuveneers, both Law Society council members, were convinced they could make as much cash from busking as from being a legal aid lawyer. After a rousing stint in London’s Covent Garden, with Cameron ...
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Bookish appeal
Any solicitors wishing to clear some shelf space and do their bit for history might be interested in an appeal launched by Suzana Edwards of Trawscoed Mansion in Wales. It is asking lawyers to donate leather bound or decorative hardback law books (of any age) for the restoration of the ...
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Rhyme and reason
The Gazette caught it in the neck recently for describing conveyancing as ‘prosaic’. Suitably contrite, we issued a challenge to solicitors of a poetic bent to disprove that provocative description in verse. Martin Smith of Borehamwood has duly obliged: ...
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Cookies and the cream
Obiter has been officially outdone. For some time now the Gazette has been trying to bag an interview with our own justice secretary (yes, you, Mr Straw), only to discover that not one but two new starters at Leeds firm Schofield Sweeney are ...
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The notion of a global ‘legal family’ is more than just a lazy cliche
This year, the opening of the legal year is especially significant, for it marks a new chapter in the eminent history of our profession – the Supreme Court is to open its doors for the first time. Irrespective of sporadic controversy surrounding its creation, the ...
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By analysing data the LCS is better understanding who complains and why
By Deborah Evansthe chief executive of the Legal Complaints ServiceOver time, a complaints handler amasses a huge amount of information. Spending a little time and energy on analysis helps gain an understanding of who complains and who they complain about.
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Do we need a grand plan for post-issue fixed fees across the fast-track?
After months of wrangling and delay, we now know the fees that claimant solicitors will be paid under the new, simpler claims process for run-of-the-mill road traffic cases.
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Serious Fraud Office to demand privilege waivers in plea bargains
Companies wanting to enter into plea bargains with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) will have to waive privilege rights over previous internal investigations, a solicitor suggested this week, after the SFO completed its first successful prosecution of a British company for overseas corruption. British bridge contractor ...
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Insider dealing prosecution
Two former City lawyers charged with eight counts of insider dealing by the Financial Services Authority have been committed to stand trial at Southwark Crown Court. Andrew Rimmington, former partner at US firm Dorsey & Whitney, and Michael McFall, former partner at US firm McDermott Will ...
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Law firm bankruptcies predicted as Lees Lloyd Whitley closes
Insolvency experts have predicted a rise in the number of law firms that will face bankruptcy in the coming months, after a well-known firm in the north-west closed its doors last week. Lees Lloyd Whitley (LLW) – a 190-year-old Merseyside firm with 90 staff – ceased ...
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Watchdog to review Solicitors Regulation Authority
The Solicitors Regulation Authority will appoint an independent reviewer to oversee the way it handles complaints in a bid to improve efficiency. The SRA plans to introduce a single complaints-handling policy that will deal with all complaints, including those involving discrimination. ...
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Inspectors praise CPS Organised Crime Division
The independent inspectors of the Crown Prosecution Service have praised its specialist Organised Crime Division (OCD) for high-quality case preparation and decision-making, in a report published this week. The HM CPS Inspectorate commended the CPS’s specialist organised crime prosecutors for their availability to give pre-charge advice ...
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Law firm to offer all services online with new website launch
A north-west law firm will next week launch a website that offers the full range of consumer legal services 24 hours a day, for a fixed fee. Canter Levin & Berg claims to be the first firm to provide a full range of services online. ...
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Jackson considers raising personal injury small claims limit
Lord Justice Jackson has hinted that he might recommend increasing the small claims limit for personal injury cases if there is no deal on fast-track fixed costs, the Gazette can reveal. His last public address before going into report-writing purdah is being seen as a warning ...
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Ministry of Justice tackles ‘spiralling’ defamation legal costs
The Ministry of Justice has introduced new rules aimed at cutting ‘spiralling’ legal costs in defamation proceedings by making changes to the rules for ‘no win, no fee’ arrangements.